The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

Sometimes a movie's title tells you all you need to know about the movie.

The

Texas

Chain Saw

Massacre.


Well then I watched it and only four people died so that's hardly a massacre.  The first four people died quickly and without incident.  I thought maybe there could have been more of a struggle, or more character development, but I guess not.

I was intrigued by Leatherface's family.  He and his brother are obviously are not in the right frame of mind and their grandfather would rather yell at them then take care of them.  Why has he trained them to kill human beings and rob graves?  How did he get started killing people for food?  We have learned that they all formerly worked at a slaughterhouse, and that's all we know.  Their macabre decorations reminded me of the Ed Gein house, which used human skins as decor.  Leatherface's family quirks are never explained because it is the fear of the unknown that is the greatest.

I felt bad for him because he's only doing what he was taught to be right and doesn't know any better.  His grandfather told him to not let anyone get away.    Leatherface (who is not called once by his real name) is heavily influenced by his evil grandfather.  I feel more for him than most villains because my own child doesn't speak and I have had to protect her on numerous occasions from her own grandmother (my mother-in-law). I could spend all day talking about grandparents.  Spanking, beating, lying, judging; what is it about grandparents that makes them so evil?

The last victim is Sally who outruns Leatherface and goes into the gas station.  Leatherface easily follows her constant screaming.  For the last entire hour, she screams nonstop.  Unbeknownst to her, his grandfather owns the station and offers to take her to another town to call the police.  She gets suspicious and he starts smacking her with a broom.  Seriously?  You can't get away from an old man wielding a broom?  This is why cardio is important.

Then the camera pans over to the meat cooking in the gas station and we realize that it was the human meat from the graves.  And our protagonists ate it!  That's what they get from eating food from a gas station.  There were a lot of flaws in this film and a lot they could have done better, but the chainsaw dance is one of my favorite endings.  So I'll give this film a 6/10.

Rocky (1976)

Today we are celebrating the bicentennial year with Rocky!  This movie was great and I loved the music.  It really got us pumped up and energetic.

Rocky dreams of being a great boxer and has worked out at the same gym for 6 years.  He works as a collector for a loan shark.  He loves Adrian, a shy pet store clerk, his turtles and his fish.  Rocky may seem rough but he's actually caring.

Apollo Creed is a flashy superstar boxer who reminds me a lot of Muhammad Ali.  Apollo Creed was named after the first man on the moon.  He is fighting an important fight in Philadelphia, where Rocky just happens to live.  After Apollo's opponent cancels, his management scrambles to find someone to replace him.  Apollo has the idea of letting a local hopeful fight him to and be propelled to stardom.  He expects to easily knock him out, so what does he have to lose?  Guess who he picks?

Of course Rocky has to get in better shape to fight Apollo.  He was a half-decent fighter but he really needs to work if he's going to have a chance.  I remember seeing him run up the steps and be way out of breath, but near the end he can finally run up with ease.  I was inspired by that.  This long bout of training inspired the South Park "Montage" song which is hilarious. We're gonna need a montage! A sports training montage!

The entire fight scene was simply amazing.  I could not look away for a moment; it was pure sports heaven.  I remember my grandfather, a professional fighter, telling me that fighting wasn't about violence; it was about endurance.  Basically it means whoever is the most stubborn.  Both of these men are clearly beaten up and need help yet they keep going.  Rocky isn't going to give up this chance he's been given.  I feel like all of us have greatness but some people need a little push, and Rocky is one of those people.

I loved this movie.  It was so inspiring and the music was excellent.  I will give this film a 9/10.

Robin Hood (1973)

Today's animated feature is Robin Hood.  It was a highly entertaining movie when I was a child, but as an adult I got nothing out of it.  Which is sad, because normally I love watching animated movies.  I love animated movies so much that I work for a company that makes them.  But that doesn't mean I'm going to praise every film we make, especially one as cheaply made as this.  Robin Hood had the lowest budget of any animated feature.  In fact, most of the footage is reused.

The tale of Robin Hood is the same one we've all heard of time and time again.  Except this one focuses more on Prince John as a whiny villain and the Sheriff as a menacing side character.  Robin Hood and Maid Marian are lovely as foxes.  All of the characters are anthropomorphic beings, and this is the first time we've seen this.  Before this came all the Princess movies and the animal trend will continue mostly into the 1980s.

Most of the animation was reused from The Aristocats, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and the Jungle Book.  Little John and Baloo are almost identical and were voiced by the same person, Phil Harris.

The best part of this movie is the folksy music.  I really enjoyed it and gave it a fun, gentle feel.  The characters are all fun and even the villains give out many laughs.  However, my daughter was not interested at all in this film.  Maybe she is too used to high quality animations of today.  I have noticed that people who grew up with this film love it, but most kids today don't.  I have compiled a gif of many scenes that were recycled for this film.  Credit goes to the people who first noticed all these scenes, and there are many more.  I will give this film a 5/10.

Willard (1971)

Today's film is Willard, a slow paced and cheesy film.  Willard is a mousy, timid guy who never stands up for himself.  He was squeezed out of the family business by his boss.  He claims that his boss killed his father and he doesn't dispute it.  After his mother dies, he learns that he owes lots of taxes and mortgage on his family's large home.  He refuses to sell it, so his boss fires him so he'll be forced to sell.

Willard's only friends are a white rat named Socrates and the mischievous black rat, Ben.  He has other rats in the basement that keep multiplying, very quickly.  He teaches them words and eventually gets them to follow his command.  He sets them out at his nasty boss' dinner party and causes a ruckus.

He lets his two rat friends come with him to the office on Saturdays.  Someone discovers them in the storeroom and his boss kills Socrates.  Willard comes back with his horde of rats and orders them to attack him.  Willard goes back home and drown all the rats, that is, except Ben.  Ben is furious and returns with his own horde of rats and they all eat him!

This film was so cheesy.  I will give this a 5/10.

Eraserhead (1977)

Today's film is Eraserhead.  Yeah.... I've got nothing.  This is a dark, shadowy film that emulates the feeling of being trapped in a nightmare world.  This movie is very weird and very off-putting.  I would not suggest this as a date-night movie.  It's like a surrealist film yet it has a semi-plot.  I see it as more of an art piece rather than a narrative film.  I will give it a 6/10.

The Exorcist (1973)

So today I received my new Netflix dvd in the mail (I get most of my movies from the library).  My husband opened it and this was his reaction:

He has now run out of the house and says he won't come back until I text him that I'm done reviewing the film.  I tried desperately to coax him back into the house because I care:

What film could have caused him to run away in fear?  In case you missed the title, it's The Exorcist!  This film is actually pretty deep with several elements so I'll just touch on a few.  This film skillfully combines the ancient fear of demons and possession with modern day technology and places it in an everyday setting. First of all, I was impressed by the special effects and the "subliminal" images.  Those are the images of the demon that flash up periodically to scare you.  Also, the possessed girl, Regan's head spins around in a complete circle.  That was neat!  They actually had three different beds that would throw her around in different ways.  They went all out in special effects.

Linda Blair (Regan) and her robotic double

It takes a while for the demon to possess Regan and for her mother to figure out what's going on.  First, they hear animal noises in the attic and Regan appears to have an invisible friend.  Later, her mom thinks she may have an illness or mental disorder and takes her to the hospital.  I saw many "subliminal" demons in the hospital and had no idea that they had cat scans that long ago.  After all other possibilities have been eliminated, she must be possessed by a demon.  Why would a demon possess a child and not an adult that could do damage?  If he would have possessed an adult and then murdered people, then people would attribute to murders to the serial killer and not believe that it was caused by anything else.  A child, on the other hand, is innocent and the demon caused great distress to her family by hurting her.  This is much different from The Omen where the child is a devil himself.

Their are two priests who come to Regan's rescue.  One is Father Merrin, who is older and has just returned from an archaeological dig.  The other is Father Karras, a psychiatrist and priest who is losing his faith as he deals with his mother's illness.  The demon has a history with Merrin and wants to kill him for trying to exorcise him before.  The second Karras leaves the room, the demon has his chance and Merrin dies of what appears to be a heart attack.  Karras is so angry that he demands that the demon enter him.  The sound of the demon leaving Regan's body is acutally the sound of pigs being led to slaugher.  While the novel and movie were based on a sensationalist news article, this part was based on the Bible, specifically Mark 5:1-20.  Jesus exorcises demons from a man who ask to let them possess another body.  Jesus lets them possess the bodies of a herd of pigs, which then run off a cliff and die.  Sure, that's a weird story, but pigs are unclean (not kosher) animals, and Karras with his troubled faith believes he is unclean as well.  After the demon enters him and his eyes change color (like Regan's did), he leaps out of the window to his death.  I found this movie interesting and will give it an 8/10.

The Omen (1976)

Let's start off October with The Omen!  This is a haunting movie with great performances and made much better by Jerry Goldsmith's score.  Seriously, the music is one of the scariest elements of the film and won an Academy Award.  I will give this film a 7/10.

Ambassador Thorn and his wife, Katherine, are in a hospital in Rome where Katherine is having a baby.  The priest in charge of the place comes to tell him their baby was stillborn and makes a strange suggestion.  Instead of telling his wife their baby died, why not just take another baby in its place?  Oh look I have one right here.  There should be some red flags going up here but I guess not.  So what if the priest had simply given the baby to him, not telling him the real one died?  What was the point in telling him?  It has to do with free will and the old notion of you can't let an evil spirit into your house without inviting it in.  Thorn willfully chose to keep the baby, therefore becoming part of the evil, and lying to his wife about it is wrong too.

They move to London with their new son, Damien, and as time goes on they notice weird things about him.  Like he can't stand being near churches and his nanny hangs herself at a party.  Eventually Thorn learns from another priest that Damien is the Antichrist, the son of the devil.  He tells Thorn he has to kill Damien.

That is one element that stands out above any other horror film of this era.  The villain isn't an adult who is either deranged or cold-blooded evil.  Nor is he a man-eating animal or alien being.  The villain is a child.  And you just don't kill a child.  Naturally, Thorn is horrified to learn he has to ritualistically stab his child.

The special effects were decent, too.  I especially liked the editing of the beheading scene.  It's timed so if you close your eyes right as it is happening, by the time your eyes open, you can still see the head floating in the air.  Unfortunately, during the cemetery scene where the Rotties are chasing Thorn and the photographer, I clearly saw the doghandlers hiding nearby.

Another element I noticed is that there isn't really anything overly supernatural going on.  Or is there? His nanny hangs herself, maybe she had issues and needed mental health counseling.  The pole hitting that priest, a beheading of the photographer - mere accidents.  Damien's new nanny killing his mom?  That lady is straight up evil.  Maybe she wanted to replace her as his mother, his only caretaker.  Damien freaks out near a church.  Azalea has temper tantrums of similar strength at home for no reason. Maybe because I wouldn't give her a candy pumpkin.  Probably because it was 4 o'clock in the morning and it's not time to eat candy pumpkins and I am not giving in.  Maybe my little co-film critic is a demon too.  Nobody would suspect someone with a name like Azalea.

The lack of supernatural always lead us to question Thorn.  Is he deranged and willing to kill his adopted son because of his pent up guilt?  Or do all these little things add up to the truth that Damien really is the Antichrist?